The Bus
by StakeWeilder
Summary: Buffy and her friends have just beat the First and destroyed Sunnydale. Now Buffy must answer the question that is on everyone's minds: Now what?


"We see what else is out there," said Buffy, completely unaware of everyone else and their fears. Buffy pressed the wound on her forehead and made her way to the bright, yellow school bus. The others looked at her as though there was a vampire leaning over her shoulder (and given the circumstances, there very well might have been).

"Buffy," said Willow, "W-we just destroyed Sunnydale. Don't we need time to… I donno –adjust? Maybe?" Willow was suddenly hit with a thought that haunted her deeply: She just helped destroy her home town. Where she was born and raised. And she labeled the spell to do it as 'nifty' of all things.

"When have we ever let something blow over?" asked Buffy in answer to the question. "I'm the Slayer. I beat one bad guy and move right along to the next. On the road again. No celebrations."

"Yeah, but where exactly are we going, Buff?" said Xander, squinting his one eye.

"Like Dawn said," Buffy continued, "We have to find them. Every last one of them."

"Buffy's right," said Giles.

"Really? Do I get a prize or something?"

"No," Giles said, polishing his glasses. "I think being alive after that was reward enough. But we need to find those Slayers. They are all probably struggling with their powers right now and don't have the slightest idea on how to use them."

"S –So, road trip, then?" asked Andrew, shyly. "I've got games… Back –home. Ugh."

"Everyone back on the bus!" Kennedy shouted. "Field trip!" Everyone did as they were told, save for Giles, Xander, Willow, Dawn, and Buffy.

"So where first?" said Willow. "I mean, after that, I need about a day or two to juice my magic back up. Meaning no locater spells."

"We'll just drive until we find a town," said Buffy casually. "But guys, aren't you excited? We've never been much farther out of Sunnydale than this. It's like an adventure."

"What about that time with Glory?" said Dawn.

"That was different," affirmed Buffy. "We had Hell Goddess and the Last Crusade on our tails."

"Yeah," Xander added. "That time we had an RV. Now we have a bus. Whole _worlds_ of better." You could practically see the sarcasm in Xander's voice as he said this. Buffy knew that it wasn't the nicest way to travel –especially since she had spent the past few years trying to distance herself from high school physically and psychologically –but it was all they could work with.

"There should be hundreds of them," said Giles, staring off into the gloomy pit that was Sunnydale. The dust was starting to settle and the slopes were beginning to crack slightly. "We should go now."

Dawn nodded. Willow and Xander took her back to the bus. Willow and Xander came back and stood with Buffy. "I wonder what our lives would have been like if you never came to town, Buffy," said Willow.

"Anya tells me," said Xander, "That the whole town would have been run by vampires and the Master was Mr. Mayor of Sunnydale."

"Ugh," groaned Buffy. "I would have taken him over Mayor Wilkins any day. At least you can drive a stake through the Master."

The four of them loaded onto the bus and looked around at the dusty, bloody, tired faces staring forward. Faith stood up in the back and pointed to the front seat. Buffy looked down to find Wood's eyes closed. She slowly guided her trembling hand to his chest. She felt no thumping heart.

"We lost 'im," said Faith. "Just a sec ago, B."

"He was a good man," said Giles.

"He said he was gonna die in battle when it was his time," said Buffy. "I guess he got his wish."

"Technically, he died in a bus," said Rona, pressing a tattered cloth up to her forehead. Vi nudged her in the arm and Rona forced a stressful apology.

Buffy, Willow, and Xander found a seat in the back next to Dawn and Faith. Giles sat in the driver's seat and closed the doors with a shrieking sound. He turned the bus on and everyone jumped in their seats. They began to drive.

"How do we find ourselves in situations like this?" said Buffy.

"Well, B," said Faith, "You_ are_ sort of attracted to danger."

"You picked a find place to attend high school," joked Xander.

Buffy watched Andrew fidget in the seat ahead and smiled. She let a lot of people die in her life. And every time it happened, she wondered if she would be better off alone. The way of the Slayer. And then she realized that the First was correct. She was alone.

Buffy looked around at the others talking, laughing. She was alone. But she didn't have to do it by herself.


End file.
